Window Cleaning in Mound, MN

Where Lake Minnetonka reaches downtown

Mound sits on the western shores of Lake Minnetonka, about 20 miles west of Minneapolis, and water covers more than 40 percent of the city. Lost Lake, a part of Lake Minnetonka that lies entirely inside Mound, runs right up to downtown and connects to Cooks Bay by a channel, so boaters can tie up and walk into town. The city counts more than 17 miles of shoreline in all.

Mound had 9,398 residents at the 2020 census, and it’s where Tonka toys began: Mound Metalcraft started in an old schoolhouse here in 1946 and later became Tonka Toys. The city grew by taking in older lake communities, among them Three Points, Island Park and Shadywood Point, between 1959 and 1963.

Hard water and odd/even sprinklers

The city’s water utility lists Mound water at 21 to 24 grains of hardness per gallon, so sprinkler spray that reaches the house dries into white mineral spots, and with odd/even watering from mid-May through August, a misaimed head can hit the same windows every other day. On upper glass, our water-fed poles use purified water and don’t leave spots behind, and we quote hard-water stain removal for spots that have set in.

The lake side of the house

With that much shoreline, plenty of Mound homes have a lake side, and that’s usually where the glass is: wide picture windows, patio doors onto the deck and upper-story windows facing the bay. We clean most of the upper glass from the yard with water-fed poles, and the ladder only comes out where a pole can’t reach.

Older homes, older windows

According to the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, more than half of Mound’s homes were built by the end of the 1960s. Houses that age often have original wood sashes, storm windows or divided panes, and sliders whose tracks have been collecting grit for decades. We clean the glass inside and out, and our track detailing clears out the channels. Add screen washing and we lift each screen out, hand-wash both sides of the mesh and frame, and refit it in the same opening.